The Hoboken Police Department is investigating a string of recent burglaries in apartment building lobbies around the city, according to police reports. At least three burglaries have taken place since the beginning of February and in only one case is there a suspect. Police detectives advised the public to be careful about having packages delivered to apartment buildings and to not wait long before picking up any delivered parcels.

The first incident, which took place at Eighth and Madison streets on Feb. 6, involved the theft of $275 worth of J. Crew pants. According to a police report, it was the third time packages were delivered to that address and later reported missing.

The second incident, on the 800 block of Willow Avenue, took place between 5 p.m. on March 3 and 11 a.m. on March 24. Around $2,000 in dental supplies was stolen from the building’s vestibule. In that case, the police believe the thief was able to gain access to the lobby by surreptitiously using the intercom system. There were no surveillance cameras in the lobby, a police report said.

The most recent case may have resulted in a breakthrough for police. That incident, in which a parcel was taken from the front of an apartment door on central Madison Street, was caught on videotape, a police report said. After discovering that his delivery was gone, the victim and building manager watched a series of videos that showed another man who lives in the building taking the package and walking out the front door. He has not been charged and the investigation is ongoing.

Would-be IRS agent scams resident

A Hoboken man purchased around $3,500 in temporary giftcards and sent them to someone claiming to be an IRS agent only to find out he was scammed, according to a police report.

Last week, a Newark Street resident was told by his tax agent to contact police after he was coaxed into transferring $3,487 in an effort to pay off money he was told he owed to the federal government.

Around March 13, the resident began receiving calls from a woman claiming to work for the Internal Revenue Service, who apparently had also sent several letters to the man’s house, the report said.

The woman told him that he owed several thousand dollars in taxes to the government, and that if he did not immediately pay, he would be arrested and forced to pay $39,000. The woman subsequently instructed him to buy four prepaid credit cards from CVS and transfer the money to her.

When he did, the report said, the woman told him not to tell anyone or else he would be in trouble with the IRS for discussing his taxes publicly. The man told police the woman knew his social security number and other personal information. When police called the number that had appeared in the man’s caller ID, there was no answer.

That’s one way to put the top town

A West New York man who parked his car in Hoboken overnight last weekend had a rude awakening the next day when he discovered a foot-long gash in the soft top of his BMW convertible, according to a police report.

The man told police that when he parked his 2005 BMW on Second Street last Wednesday night, the roof was intact. When he returned 24 hours later, the roof of his car was slashed wide open, the report said. Repairs could cost up to $3,000, the man told police.